Hungry for more ... a new report highlights a lack of diversity in film, despite female-frionted hits like The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.
Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

A study into the diversity of film characters since 2007 has found little improvement in representation, by gender, race or sexuality.

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Researchers at the University of Southern California studied the 100 top-grossing films of each year in the US from 2007 to 2014 (excluding 2011) and discovered that out of the 30,885 characters on screen, only 30.2% were female.

Taking a look at the top films of 2014, they also found that out of the 4,610 characters being shown, only 19 roles were classed as lesbian, gay or bisexual. There were no transgender characters.

The research also examined the way that women are generally portrayed and found that in 2014, 26.4% of female characters showed nudity with just 9.1% of men.

There’s also a continued lack of diversity behind the camera. Out of the 779 directors behind the top films since 2007, only 5.8% were black and just 2.4% were Asian. There were also just 24 female directors in the same period.

But the report does suggest that this year could be a turning point.

“Looking ahead to 2015, change may already be on the horizon,” the report said. “Films by and about women (eg Pitch Perfect 2, Spy, Fifty Shades of Grey, Cinderella, Insurgent) have drawn ticket buyers en masse. Five female directors have helmed films that made over $25 million in the first half of 2015, which should put them all in the 100 top films this year. This is greater than the number of female directors of the 100 top films of 2013 and 2014.”